My hero this week is Delaware's own Joe Biden. Not for anything in particular he did this week, but this New York Times feature on him is really heart-wrenching:

IOWA CITY — Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware, a back-in-the-pack Democratic candidate for president, was answering a voter’s question last week about negative campaigning when he abruptly began talking about his first, euphoric run for the Senate, in 1972, and the personal tragedy that nearly destroyed his life afterward.

“Let me tell you a little story,” Mr. Biden told the crowd at the University of Iowa. “I got elected when I was 29, and I got elected November the 7th. And on Dec. 18 of that year, my wife and three kids were Christmas shopping for a Christmas tree. A tractor-trailer, a guy who allegedly — and I never pursued it — drank his lunch instead of eating his lunch, broadsided my family and killed my wife instantly, and killed my daughter instantly, and hospitalized my two sons, with what were thought to be at the time permanent, fundamental injuries.”

The crowd was silent as Mr. Biden continued. His wife, Neilia, and 13-month-old daughter, Naomi, were gone, but his sons, not quite 3 and 4 years old at the time, made full recoveries. “They’re both, thank God, healthy and well,” Mr. Biden told the crowd.

Beau, of course is now Attorney General of Delaware. Say what you will about him, but the man has a rational grip on foreign policy and is more in touch with the average American than most of the Presidential candidates.

My hack this week is the U.S. Senate for rejecting farm subsidy reform:

WASHINGTON — The Senate rejected two attempts to limit annual payments to American farmers, frustrating lawmakers who had hoped that this year's multibillion-dollar farm bill would scale back the government's massive subsidy programs.

Senators voted 78-12 late Thursday to cut off debate on the bill and drop some amendments that were not farm-related. The margin comfortably exceeded the 60 votes Democrats needed on the procedural move and set the stage for a final vote as early as Friday.

Sen. Dorgan, however, is absolutely right. Earlier that day, the Senate rejected his amendment:

"We have a federal farm program to help family farmers make it through tough times," said Sen. Byron Dorgan, a Democrat who sponsored the amendment with Sen. Charles Grassley, a Republican. "It was not created to send multimillion-dollar payments to giant corporate farms, or payments to people who haven't been near a farm in decades."

Labels: 2008 Watch, Biden, Congress

Posted by Ryan S. on Friday, December 14, 2007 at 2:23 PM | Permalink |